YPO’s mission and core principles are deeply rooted in diversity. We help our members grow as leaders by providing diverse learning opportunities and experiences.

More than 5,000 events are conducted within YPO every year. Each event is led by one or more of our 23,000 members from around the world. One social event during an October conference featured entertainment that was offensive and unacceptable to many, both inside and outside the YPO organization. We regret the frustration and disappointment this incident has caused.

As CEO and on behalf of YPO, I would like to apologize to our members and those outside the YPO family that were offended and disappointed by this incident.

YPO is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion among members. The YPO peer-to-peer experience is founded in open sharing of different perspectives. We seek diversity through members, including women and different cultures, races, religions, industries, business-types and experiences. At the same time, we also seek to be a safe haven where members embrace their differences with mutual respect. Anything less is unacceptable.

YPO’s reputation as the world’s premier network of chief executives and business leaders has developed over 65 years. We hold ourselves to very high leadership standards. We continue to learn.

We are determined to continue our focus toward diversity and inclusion while protecting the safe haven environment of respect. Our International Board of Directors, its committees and groups of members, such as the Women’s YPO Network and the Black YPO Network, have been focused on increasing the diversity of our membership for years. Action steps are under way and being coordinated among members to ensure we meet our high expectations.